Darrell Hair tribunal, 6th day

Morgan wasn't in favour of Hair demotion

Ivo Tennant in London

October 8, 2007

David Morgan: 'I thought that Darrell had applied the rules of the game correctly at the Oval. He is technically a very strong umpire' © Getty Images

Morgan said that initially he did not support the sub-committee's resolution that Hair be demoted. "However, I was in the minority and ultimately supported this. It was clear to me that Darrell had indeed lost the confidence of the ICC board.

"I thought that Darrell had applied the rules of the game correctly at The Oval. He is technically a very strong umpire and, like the ICC management, I thought that Darrell should have been allowed to continue at the highest level. I have no doubt that the resolution was not motivated in any way by the fact that Darrell is white. His race was not mentioned at all during our discussions and the directors were concerned only with avoiding a similar incident again.

"The other directors found it unacceptable for Darrell to ignore completely what was in the best interests of cricket, which was clearly to allow the match to continue. They therefore supported the Pakistan Cricket Board's call for an inquiry into Darrell's conduct." Morgan added that he thought the e-mail sent by Hair in which he offered to resign in return for a pay-off should not have been disclosed.

"It seemed to me that this was just a situation where an employee was beginning negotiations with his employer about the termination of his contract," said Morgan. "Malcolm Speed explained that he had received advice from a number of different lawyers and that was that the e-mail had to be disclosed. I trusted that Malcolm had obtained the appropriate legal advice and accepted that disclosure was necessary."

The tribunal also heard the witness statement of Ken Gordon, who was president of the West Indies Board until July this year. He was in support of the ICC sub-committee's recommendation that Hair should continue as an ICC employee but not stand in international matches between full member countries "so avoiding the risk of a similar incident to The Oval."

Gordon, who was not at the match, did not think it was necessary to take action against Billy Doctrove, Hair's co-umpire at The Oval. Under cross-examination from Griffiths, he surprisingly admitted he was not aware that Doctrove was a West Indian.

Doctrove, who remains on the Elite panel, was supposed to have given evidence on behalf of Hair last week but failed to board his flight from the Caribbean. He has not made contact with Hair since then.

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